A publicly known car washing machine, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,398, comprises a stationary type car washing machine, and a conveyor device for conveying a vehicle to be washed from the front through the car washing machine to the rear.
The car washing machine is internally formed with a washing section, a waxing section and a drying section, arranged from front to rear in this order. The washing section is provided with washing brushes for washing the surface of the vehicle, a spray device for spraying washing water and a detergent on the surface of the vehicle, etc. The waxing section is provided with a spray device for spraying a waxing liquid on the surface of the vehicle, and waxing brushes, etc. And the drying section is provided with drying nozzles for blowing air against the surface of the vehicle for drying, etc.
According to the above arrangement, a vehicle to be washed is carried into the car washing machine by the conveyor device. While the vehicle is being conveyed by the conveyor device, first, in the washing section, the washing brushes are activated and washing water and a detergent liquid are sprayed from the spray device to wash the surface of the vehicle. The vehicle is conveyed downstream to the waxing section, where the waxing brushes are activated and a waxing liquid is sprayed from the spray device to be applied to the surface of the vehicle. The vehicle is conveyed further downward to the drying section, where the drying nozzles are activated to dry the surface of the vehicle, which is then carried from the downstream end of the roller conveyor out through the rear of the car washing machine.
There is a need for a car washing machine which is the same as the publicly known car washing machine described above except that it is devoid of the waxing section, that is, a car washing machine which is designed to perform only the washing and drying of a vehicle, not performing application of a waxing liquid, so that it is simple in construction and reduced in cost. Trying to provide such car washing machine devoid of the waxing section offers the following problems.
The washing section and the drying section adjoin each other, with the distance therebetween being short. And since drying is performed by the drying nozzles of the drying section also during the time the washing of the surface of a vehicle is performed by the washing brushes of the washing section, splashes of water produced by the brushing of the vehicle using the washing brushes and by the spraying of washing water and the detergent liquid reach the drying section, causing the problem that satisfactory drying cannot be attained.
Thus, if the distance between the washing section and the drying section is increased, the length of the car washing machine increases, requiring an additional space, which, in turn, requires enlarging the installation space for the car washing machine, making it difficult to install the same in a filling station, for example.